Australian companies are steadily introducing and expanding corporate health and fitness programs, as a growing body of evidence confirms that healthy employees are happy and more productive. Teresa Russell looks at corporate health and fitness in practice and how to make the most of such initiatives
Australian companies are steadily introducing and expanding corporate health and fitness programs, as a growing body of evidence confirms that healthy employees are happy and more productive. Teresa Russell looks at corporate health and fitness in practice and how to make the most of such initiatives
Organisations introduce corporate health programs for a number of reasons, from improving productivity, changing corporate culture and decreasing lost time injuries, through to meeting their social responsibilities and beefing up employee attraction and retention strategies.
Regardless of the motivation, the success or failure of any program depends on the way it’s promoted, the uptake by employees and the ability of each individual to assume responsibility for their own health and fitness.
RACV
The 101 year-old Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) mutual society runs a roadside assistance service as well as a 15-floor club in Melbourne for its 18,000 Victorian members. It also offers financial services such as insurance and has country clubs and holiday facilities in Victoria. RACV employs around 2,000 people in retail, call centre, roadside service and hospitality roles, as well as corporate head office positions.
About nine years ago, the RACV club in Melbourne city put in a gym for its staff, and installed a health club at its Noble Park (suburban Melbourne) facility six years ago, where 900 people now work onsite.
Roy Sullivan, corporate contracts and supply manager, says that the organisation’s health and fitness program is now driven by a desire to become an employer of choice. “RACV’s leadership team is aiming to develop the long term wellbeing of the organisation, by making its employees healthier and happier at work and at home.”
The strong focus on employee health and wellbeing has resulted in the introduction of many programs and services. These include: eyesight tests; health and fitness tests; correct lifting method lectures; massage services; skin checks; lung capacity testing; flu vaccinations; ride and walk to work clubs; discounted gym membership; an in-house health and fitness magazine; participation and training for corporate games and triathlons; tailored fitness programs and access to a dietician.
Peak Health, the company that won the tenders to run the RACV staff gyms, provides most of these services. “We treat Peak Health as a true working partner of the organisation. Initially, they were brought in to help us equip and run our gyms, but now they bring health and fitness ideas to us, we approve them and then they’re promoted and run by Peak,” Sullivan explains.
The organisation tries to provide all staff with the same access to its health and fitness programs, but their geographical spread across Victoria sometimes makes this impossible. “We use our supplier to help find innovative solutions for those employees whose access to our health and fitness programs is affected by their location,” Sullivan says.
The other advantage of having a gym onsite has been expediting the return to work of injured staff. If someone suffers a workplace injury, they attend rehabilitation in the RACV gym. Sullivan says, “There’s a huge benefit in getting people to return to the workplace for their rehab, because it’s done in a very controlled atmosphere, they return to the work environment a few days each week and generally develop a very positive attitude about getting back to work.”
The cost of RACV’s health and fitness program is commercial in confidence, but Sullivan says that its benefits far outweigh the costs. RACV even gets free advertising and promotion in the community, he says, because staff are happy to represent the company in triathlons and corporate games. “Our health and fitness program builds a positive culture in the organisation which is hard to measure, but easy to feel.”
That’s not to say that they don’t measure results. There are KPIs defining the minimum number of active financial members for each gym and it’s up to the provider to ensure that KPI is reached and exceeded. Similarly, each discrete health promotion program also has agreed KPI targets.
Sullivan says there are several things that are key to developing and promoting an effective health and fitness program in any organisation. “Before going out to tender for a supplier, know what you want to get out of a service,” he counsels. Sullivan spoke to other similar companies and found out what they had done, what the initial take-up rates for gym membership were, along with ongoing numbers. “Find a supplier whose sole business is health and wellbeing services and get them involved early in things such as the design of a gym and equipment recommendations. They’re the professionals. Get them to help with strategy and promotion of your health and fitness programs,” he concludes.
Comalco Aluminium
Comalco, part of the Rio Tinto group, employs more than 4,000 people across Australia and New Zealand. There are between 400–1,200 managerial, commercial, technical and operational staff at each of its sites (one mine, three smelters and one refinery), along with 200 head office staff in Brisbane and 100 employees in a research facility in Melbourne.
Comalco has a long history of running various health and/or fitness programs, but each site has done its own thing, determined by either its health care professionals or site manager. Initiatives have included: quit smoking campaigns; flu vaccinations; skin checks; gym facilities; walk around Queensland team competition (using pedometers) and blood pressure and weight monitoring. However, they weren’t integrated into an overall program with measured benefits.
The company is currently in the process of piloting a corporate wellness program across the organisation, following a very successful pilot at head office.
Gerry Walpole, Comalco’s principal consultant for occupational health, says that the program was developed over the last 12 months. A wellness group, consisting of people from different departments and backgrounds, was established first. They reviewed the philosophy of wellness, including physical, psychological, social and spiritual wellness, along with health and illness issues.
“We utilised a lot of the research published by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (www.acoem.org) and concluded that good health is good business. This philosophy also fits in with three of the six pillars that support our strategic map: health and safety; environment and community; and people commitment. The vast majority of injury and illness occur outside the workplace. We want our people to be well, with no risk factors either at work or outside of work,” he explains.
When presenting the business case to the executive committee, Walpole presented the US research to illustrate that healthy people are more productive, are safer and recover faster from any incidents they do have. He proposed a lower cost implementation, paying licensing fees to a provider, Good Health Solutions, that will train Comalco’s OHS nurses to facilitate their program. He estimates that Comalco will save between two to three dollars for every dollar spent, so that benefits will far outweigh the costs. “One side-effect of an effective wellness program is that it’ll boost our benefits package and help us become a preferred employer,” Walpole says.
The pilot was run in Comalco Aluminium’s head office in December. A health risk assessment (encompassing individual height, weight, girth and cholesterol measurements, a step aerobic test and a flexibility assessment) was offered to all staff. Once risk factors were identified, Good Health Solutions ran health forums.
One of Comalco’s key factors for choosing a supplier was finding a provider that could tailor its programs to suit their business. They had identified a need for health promotion sessions to fit into a 20-minute work meeting on industrial sites, rather than having two to three hour lectures.
As the program is rolled out through the industrial sites, Walpole expects the initial uptake rate to be 50–60 per cent and up to 80–90 per cent in three years time. One of the issues he can foresee is having to manage people who have health assessments and may need assistance addressing identified health issues.
Walpole expects that the program will have an effect on absenteeism, although this isn’t going to be something that will be tracked. “We’re not flagging people who participate in the wellness program in our HR systems. However, other companies that have done this have shown a 6 per cent decrease in absenteeism among participants.” Comalco’s absenteeism rate is currently less than 3 per cent, so a 6 per cent decrease among 50 per cent of its workforce will not be statistically significant.
Walpole isn’t worried about tracking individual results. “Our approach to wellness is the same as our approach to safety. We want to manage the risk lower. We will give our employees the skills and knowledge they need to manage their health risks and create a supportive environment to help them lower their risks,” he says.
“Getting top management support and involving employees in the choice of what issues to address and how to address them are also important ingredients for success,” he concludes.
